An Evening with Rex Murphy (among other things)

On Monday morning, Skip and I headed to southwestern Ontario to stay with my sister in Petrolia. The next morning (yesterday) we went over to Port Huron (Michigan, USA) to pick up a few things. I have been blessed with a husband who likes to shop as much as I do. I know! A husband who shops? Willingly? We love going to the US and getting items we can't normally get in Canada, especially since our dollar is almost at par these days. On the way back, something happened that I've never experienced before. We were able to drive right up to a customs inspector without any wait! And even though we were over our daily limit, we were quickly waved through.

After a very tasty dinner at Sarnia's hippest Thai Restaurant (and only one as far as I know), South East Café, we hustled over to the Public Library Auditorium to get good seats for our evening with Rex Murphy, political commentator and Globe and Mail columnist. He's currently on a nationwide book tour of major cities and Sarnia. The event was a fund-raiser to promote literacy and after-school literacy groups at six Lambton County sites.

He was introduced by Sarnia mayor, Mike Bradley.

We were then entertained for an hour while Rex spoke in his inimitable way about many topics including former Newfoundland premier Joey Smallwood's commitment to education (among other things); former premier Brian Peckford's obscenely expensive and idiotic attempt to make Newfoundland the Cucumber Capital of the World; pivotal speeches of Abraham Lincoln and how they resonated 100 years later with Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and again last year during Barack Obama's campaign, and many other timely/entertaining/amusing/interesting topics.

He is a wonderful speaker and his self-deprecating manner is very engaging. I could have listened to him for hours. Skip beetled up to the front to have Rex autograph his latest book, "Canada and Other Matters of Opinion",  a collection of his Globe and Mail columns from the past few years.

We were so pleased to have had the opportunity to combine an intellectual outing with a trip to my old stomping grounds and a visit with a couple of family members.

 

After arriving back in the GTA, I went to my embroidery guild this evening. Many members brought finished projects to display.

Alda is an amazing stitcher. She stitched the Sharpei for her son and his wife who live in Spain. Their photo is beneath the stitched picture. She stitched the Chinese characters for her kitchen décor. (click on any of the images to enlarge)

Another member stitched this sampler from the current Just Cross Stitch Christmas issue.

This tiny piece is stitched over one thread and the design is about 2 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches. Click on it to see the beautiful detail.

Seeing this bell pull reminded me that I have a similar one with stitching completed and ready for finishing. Now where did that thing go?

This reminded me of the "Take Time to Knit" project that sits unfinished. I keep reminding myself that there are no cross-stitch 'police'.

 

 

 I saw this one in various states of completion while Marj was stitching it.

This was an unfinished project that is being stitched over one thread at 25 stitches to the inch. I really like the look of the variegated over-dyed threads.










During the meeting, I worked on the buttonhole border of my Hardanger project. I have a lot of stitching left to do on that one.

I am looking forward to my two guild meetings in December as they're both pot luck dinner meetings.

Knitterly speaking, I have started the 4th ball of yarn on the Every Way Wrap. I got a lot of it done in the car on the way to and from my sister's and when we were watching TV when we were there. I want it finished as  I'm itching to start a couple of mitten projects.